Six years ago today, Palm launched the best smartphone in the world. That’s right the best smartphone in the world in my completely (not) unbiased opinion. The Palm Pre hit the shelves of Sprint stores across the United States and began, what is affectionately known as the “WTF-iest history” in the mobile space to date. Since then, webOS remains one of the most intuitive and efficient mobile operating systems ever built and has been picked over by the three remaining contenders. But there are still some things that haven’t yet been stolen/borrowed/copied by iOS, Android, and ...

Over the years, the ways in which we interact with our mobile devices have changed drastically. In the beginning there were keypads, buttons and dials. Then came the first generation of touch devices with their now-primitive touch interfaces that were basically miniaturized renditions of desktop UIs, like Windows Mobile. This was the heyday of the phone stylus. The stylus provided a more direct and precise way of interacting with the devices, and as the Galaxy Note line of phablets shows us, can still be put to good use. Fast forward to today, and the smart devices we use are sleeker, more ...

As fun as it can be to marginalize and criticize them, smartphones are magical pieces of technology. From something as mainstream as an iPhone 6 to something as fringe as a G Flex 2, today’s pocket communicators are modern miracles of miniaturized intelligence. As I say at the top of every Pocketnow Weekly podcast, these real-life tools are the manifestation of many childhood dreams, mine included … and it’s incredible to stop and think about just how complex they really are. All of which makes it doubly frustrating when these supposedly “smart” devices screw up so ...

Snapdragon, MediaTek, Exynos, and A8 are SoCs - systems on a chip - that might be powering your smartphone or tablet right now. All of these processors follow the RISC style of computer chip technology, unlike CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) chips which are typically based around the x86 or x64 platform and power most desktop and laptop computers these days. RISC chips feature a reduced instruction set and have been stereotypically "underpowered" compared to their CISC counterparts, and therefore limited to mobile applications. With the increase in capabilities and popularity ...

The mobile world moves quickly – probably faster than just about any other industry in the world. New devices are announced on what feels like a weekly basis; perpetual software updates are hitting for hundreds of mobile devices; one-off press events are always happening; and while phones seem to have a longer life span than they did back in, say 2010, they still become antiques in what feels like no time. Looking back, it's crazy to see how far the industry has come in less than a decade – from phones that (barely) handled email to pocket-sized computers that an increasingly awesome ...

The Android M developer preview has been made available to a handful of nexus devices, and the latest flavor of Android seems to bring some changes to the User Experience. Let's have a look at some of the features of Android M and how they impact usability: Revamped volume controls Google's approach to volume controls in Android Lollipop was panned widely by the masses. It was an attempt to provide more powerful and granular features to the users, but it sacrificed the quick accessibility of the silence toggles. The Lollipop volume scheme also didn't do a good job of explaining the ...

Back in the early days of cell phones in these United States, cellular phones were purchased from the carrier along with a service plan. Those plans came with ridiculous pricing by today's standards - some cost more than US$5 per minute! If you needed to replace your phone (if it was lost, stolen, broken, or even if you wanted to upgrade) you had to go back to your carrier and have them update your account to point the new device. Each device had a unique ID assigned to it, so this process wasn't particularly difficult, just inconvenient and fairly time consuming as you were forced ...

The smartphone landscape is becoming a very attractive place to be. Mid-tier Android smartphones are becoming better and better lately with really attractive options coming in at under the $350 price point. I’m talking about the OnePlus One, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3, the Moto G; you know the type. We have reviewed all of those phones. Everyone has reviewed all of those phones. There’s always one common phrase that is repeated over and over. “The camera is decent, considering the price tag.” It's all about that camera That’s what the midrange smartphone has been relegated to of ...

If you're reading this article, chances are that you own a smartphone - a device that's transforming the consumer electronics playing field. It's a remarkable little device, regardless of whatever operating system it runs, which cellular carrier it's on, or its formfactor. Almost universally, a smartphone has a touchscreen, a telephone capabilities, an additional speaker, a camera (sometimes two or more), a high-speed, always-on connection to the Internet, and a whole bevy of sensors. Because of it's jack-of-all-trades utility, the humble smartphone has been replacing what used to be ...

At Google I/O, a virtual standing ovation erupted from the crowd when Google announced that Android M would include a user’s ability to determine their own app permissions. ZOMG! Woot! This has been a long-requested feature that as actually been available in some Android builds, most notably the Blackphone. Finally, users will be able to decide just what an app will be allowed to do and what it can’t do. You do you After all, it’s your phone. Why shouldn’t you be able to control what it does and does not do. If you’re an Android fan, you are no stranger to customization and ...

We live in a world where there are three major phone operating systems. Each of these major OS’s is robust and feature packed. There is some differentiation between them, but honestly, they’re all almost on equal footing with each other. It starting to make me wonder, what reasons do people have for switching platforms any more? Well...mostly equal Now let’s be 100% frank here. Not all operating systems are created equal. Each platform has a thing or two to hold over the other two in some capacity. To some of you, these will be major flaws or benefits. But looking at it objectively, ...

After over two years on AT&T, Michael Fisher recently made the switch to T-Mobile US for his personal smartphone account. We covered the initial transition in part 1 and delved into coverage challenges in part 2. This is the third and final installment of the series. And yes, he knows that Jaime Rivera stole his idea for this headline, but he's going with it anyway.) • The plane touched down in Barcelona and after eight hours aloft, I couldn't wait to reconnect. I dug my unlocked HTC One M8 from my carry-on, mashed the power key, and after a few minutes of searching, it ...

At the Google I/O 2015 keynote we were shown pieces of the next version of Android, currently codenamed "Android M". While we don't know what the final dessert name will be we were treated to a Developer Preview of Android M (just like last year with Android L). Not everything we saw in the keynote is available in the Developer Preview, but many of the features are. If you want to give the Developer Preview of Android M a try on your supported device, head over to the Android Developer website and flash away. It's buggy, as one might expect, so proceed at your own risk. In the meantime, ...

The mobile world moves quickly – probably faster than just about any other industry in the world. New devices are announced on what feels like a weekly basis; perpetual software updates are hitting for the hundreds of mobile devices; one-off press events are always happening; and while phones seem to have a longer life span than they did back in, say 2010, they still become antiques in what feels like no time. Looking back, it's crazy to see how far the industry has come in less than a decade – from phones that (barely) handled email to pocket-sized computers that a increasingly ...

A few years ago I was trying to find my way around an unfamiliar city with my friend and her husband, and I pulled out my Android phone to help us navigate the tricky terrain. Looking upon my then-new HTC Evo 4G, my friend's husband asked, "those phones are basically just iPhone ripoffs, right?" "No," I replied. "Android is totally different from iOS. In some ways it's better." "Yeah," the guy shot back, "but they're all just trying to be the iPhone, right?" If it sounds like he was trolling me, he was – but he also meant what he said. And while he was kind of a dirtbag (they later ...

Today and tomorrow, Google is hosting its developer conference, Google I/O 2015. Like last year, we got to see the next version of Android for the very first time. Also like last year, Google isn't giving away the name of the next version, it's simply referred to as it's letter - in this case: Android M. This morning Dave Burke, VP Engineering (Android) at Google, took the stage, giving us all a first-hand look at Android M. Though nothing was mentioned about the version number of this upcoming release, the changes that were mentioned sound a lot like Android M will be version 5.2 rather ...

I was never a fan of handwriting while I was in school. Later I was introduced to fountain pens and all of that changed. My "daily carry" pen is an aluminum-bodied, steel-nibbed pen from Schrade that writes wonderfully and looks great. The downside is that all my handwritten notes are analog. I have to manually scan them - every single one - if I want them in a digital format. Since then I've been looking for a digital solution. My old Apple Newton fit the bill. Notes I'd write there on it were handwritten "ink", but digitized on the fly. Since then I haven't found anything that ...

So, an interesting thing happened last week – one that I would have earlier considered absolutely unthinkable. I forgot my phone. I was out with my father running some errands and I left my phone on the center console of his truck. He called my wife about 15 minutes after he left, and offered to turn around, bless his heart. But I thought to myself, “No. I’ll be there tomorrow. Let’s see what happens.” Uh oh Now, I could have gone into my office, grabbed a phone, and stopped off at a local AT&T store and been back up and running in under 20 minutes – probably in the same ...

Android Wear is picking up more OEMs, more styles, and more users every passing day. These svelte wearables take a fairly robust microcomputer and cram it into a wristwatch - an impressive feat when you think about it. Despite all the technological capabilities built-in to these devices, first and foremost they are timepieces. As such, watch faces need to be simple, elegant, and informative. Some are better than others. Here are a few of my digital favorites. Background I was happy with the very rectangular Pebble (Kickstarter Edition), until I saw Android Wear and spring for the LG G ...

The life of a reviewer, reporter, blogger (whatever you want to call us) is a hard one, riddled with tribulations and hardship. Ok, who am I kidding? It’s pretty awesome. We get to play with toys aplenty, from watches, to tablets, to phones, and sometimes even some other peripheral devices. HTC Vive anyone? Sometimes, we get to play with devices that cross platforms. Others of us are focused more on one platform above all others. We write, we video, we have some fun. I’m a Windows Phone fan, but these days I’m toting around a OnePlus One. But in the interest of expanding my horizons ...

The last two generations of Galaxy S Phones have brought with them somewhat of a black sheep in the family. While the Galaxy S4 and S5 were both nice phones from a design and build standpoint, their more active siblings have been, well, less nice. They have been bulky, chunky, and to be perfectly frank, a little ugly. Add to that, the Galaxy S5 was already waterproof which in my humble opinion, made the Galaxy S5 Active almost redundant. Waterproofing is the most attractive feature the Active line of phones brings, but that was already built in. Sure the phone was more “rugged” so it ...

Google I/O 2015 is less than a week away and the schedule of events has posted on what has to be the most "Material Design"-styled website that I've ever seen, complete with Android Lollipop-esque animations. For those who may not know, Google I/O is two days of "inspirational talks, hands-on learning, and a chance to hear more about Google's latest developer products". What's more, we usually get an early peek at what's coming next and the general direction of Android, ChromeOS, the Chrome browser, and how devices that leverage these technologies may interplay with each other going ...

There are only a few physical buttons on most smartphones these days; volume controls, the occasional camera shutter or home button, and the power button. They’re all obviously important, or else the manufacturers wouldn’t bother including them and taking up precious space on their phones, but almost undeniably, the most important of all is the power button. It wakes our phones from sleep mode. It locks them to save power and trigger security. It turns them completely on and off, and without the power button we wouldn’t be able to use our phones … but we can’t seem to agree on ...

The mobile world moves quickly – probably faster than just about any other industry in the world. New devices are announced on what feels like a weekly basis; perpetual software updates are hitting for the hundreds of mobile devices; one-off press events are always happening; and while phones seem to have a longer life span than they did back in, say 2010, they still become antiques in what feels like no time. Looking back, it's crazy to see how far the industry has come in less than a decade – from phones that (barely) handled email to pocket-sized computers that a increasingly ...

Last September, I went to Motorola’s headquarters with Adam Doud for the company's 2014 Moto X unveiling. They took us through their manufacturing process for the phone, and we got a behind-the-scenes look at how they incorporate the Horween leather onto the Moto X. I briefly got to pick up the leather units, but at the end of the tour when we were given our press bags, I wound up with the soft-touch plastic back model. Sure, I saw the leather in person, but a few moments in the hand a lasting impression does not make. What do make lasting impressions are the scratches, dents, and scuffs ...